Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition Pt. 6 - Doing All the Things Was a Terrible Idea

Sometimes I wonder just how much initiative the average inhabitant of Skyrim has. Sure, they get up, got to work, and stop by the tavern on their way home before turning in for the night. However, when they have some sort of problem they come running to me for help. I can't be bothered to count the number of times I've been asked to retrieve something from some ruins, deliver a doodad halfway across the realm, or deal with the town drunk. Surely these people can do at least some of these things on their own. It's enough to make me wish one of the perks in Speechcraft was Motivational Speaker. Then I could ditch my armor and bow, dawn my finest clothes, and embark on a tour of self improvement, encouraging the locals to better themselves, and not just pester the first adventurer they see to do the work for them. Who knows. Maybe it would catch on, and a century or two later some thief would be stealing one of my self help books from a local noble along side copies of The Cake and the Diamond and The Lusty Argonian.

Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition Pt. 5 - Parenthood

Earlier today, I finished off the Thieves' Guild main quest line, and with that was leader of of the Companions, the College of Winterhold, and now heading up this group as well. I was feeling pretty good, with a swagger in my step. Figuring it high time to head to my homestead, I made my way there. While dumping an ungodly amount of gems and ebony items into one of the nearby chests, my adopted daughter Lucia ran up shouting, "Mama, you're home!" She does this every time I swing by, and on this occasion she wanted to give me a flower she'd found. Such a sweet girl. It was while she was beaming at me, radiating an aura of unconditional love that a rather unsettling thought occurred to me: Am I an absentee parent?

Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition Pt. 4 - The F Words

As far as I'm concerned, there are two F Words in Skyrim: Falmer and Forsworn. While I may have spent a good amount of time railing against the terrible spider menace threatening Tamriel, at least the creatures add an element of tension to the game. Any time a dungeon starts showing signs of webbing gathering on the walls, a sense of dread begins to well inside me. Meanwhile, coming upon a Forsworn occupied fort, or spotting the tell tale signs of a Falmer encampment elicits a bored sigh as I prepare for a good 20-30 minutes of tedium, clearing an uninteresting area of uninteresting enemies carrying uninteresting equipment.

What got me thinking this is a quest that I did while finishing up the Dawnguard arch. Before facing off with the vampire lord Harkon for a final showdown, players need to find a legendary weapon called Auriel's Bow in order to prevent the prophecy he wants to fulfill from ever reaching fruition. This requires exploring a cave containing some ancient ruins which are guarded by a Snow Elf, one of the last in Tamriel. He goes on to explain how his people were tricked thousands of years ago, and twisted into what are now known as the Falmer. It seemed a tad out of place. Here was the game giving me a vaguely interesting back story to a race that often times feels like filler meant to add padding to a dungeon.

Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition Pt. 3 - Of Werewolves and Vampires

Here we are, another week has passed, and I can't believe how much content I've managed to play through since last I popped by to chat about Skyrim, not just for the sheer amount of things I did, but for how I managed to find the time to do them. The laundry list of adventures I went on include going to the Soul Cairn, helping the Companions with all their troubles, joining the Thieves Guild, and I even built my own house.

Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition Pt. 2 - Picking Sides

It's been a while since I last checked in with my magical romp through Skyrim, and I have good news! Run-ins with spiders have been far and few between since then. Sure, there has been the occasional one to show up at the most horrible time ever (I'm looking at you, dropping-down-from-the-ceiling-spider in that one room in Hag's End...well, not looking looking, because ew...), but other than that it's been surprisingly arachnid free, so hurray! Instead, I've had an exciting week of exploring Dwemer ruins, collecting more books, and even picking sides.

Doing All the Things: Skyrim Edition - Getting Started

When it comes to big, open world, sandbox-like games, I have a tendency to wander around, poke some stuff with a stick, maybe drive around town for a while if possible, then merrily be on my way. Imagine my surprise to find out that games like Skyrim, GTA V, and the like have actual endings, never mind the scores of optional content. It's gotten me thinking of late, and I reckon I may actually want to give it a go at doing everything in Skyrim. This is going to be a mammoth undertaking (no puns intended), given the sheer size of the game, and made all the more daunting a task since I also have Hearth Fire and Dragonborn. Nonetheless, I want to give it a go. I will do it on a single playthrough, so a few sacrifices will need to be made, such as choosing between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks during the civil war, but other than that I plan to explore every nook and cranny of the game, find every goody, and I may even read every book too.

Review: Dishonored (360)

 

No doubt about it. Dishonored is a game along the lines of an alternate universe techno-Steampunk super hero game using a story framework demonstrated by the likes of BioShock and Half-Life 2 where a lot of the story and history of the game world is recounted without a word of dialogue.